98 MISC. PUBLICATION 5 0, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



The genus is remarkable in that the females of the two species and 

 their varieties appear to be identical, except that in one situation, 

 Carlsbad Cavern, N. Mex., some of the females possess a very distinct 

 frontal tubercle and the others not so much as a vestige of such a 

 tubercle. The males corresponding to the two kinds of females in 

 this cavern are so nearly alike that they cannot be separated except 

 for the presence or absence of the frontal tubercle. 



While the females from other localities appear to be alike, the 

 males show slight differences in the shape of the posterior process 

 of the clasper, in the shape of the movable ringer, and especially in 

 the chaetotaxy of the latter. 



Guimaraes {27) gives a drawing of the clasper of the male of what 

 he identifies as Sternopsylla texana (C. Fox), based on material from 

 Mexico. According to this drawing the Mexican male is different 

 from all those known to the writers from the United States in the 

 shape of the posterior process of the clasper, which is longer in pro- 

 portion to its width than in forms occurring in the United States. 

 Also the chaetotaxy and shape of the movable finger are different. 



When the known males of Sternopsylla from the United States are 

 compared, they are observed to fall into three groups according to 

 the following differences in the clasper s : 



1. Those from Carlsbad Cave, N. Mex., in which the movable finger is 

 about as broad as long and the anterior margin is very broadly incurved, the 

 two lower, posterior, marginal, spinelike setae of the movable finger are 

 situated at a distance from each other, and the seta adjacent to the third 

 posterior, marginal, spinelike seta is large and longer than the third seta itself. 



2. The one male from Georgia, in which the movable finger is distinctly 

 longer than broad and the third spinelike seta is very slender and unaccom- 

 panied externally by another seta, and in which there are two external discal 

 setae above the middle of the finger. 



3. The one from Florida, in which the movable finger is about as broad as 

 long, with the anterior margin deeply incurved or notched below its middle, 

 the two lower, posterior, marginal, spinelike setae are situated approximate 

 to each other, and the seta adjacent to the third posterior, marginal, spinelike 

 seta is flagelliform and shorter than the third seta itself. 



These differences in the genitalia of the males from the United 

 States together with the differences in the presence or absence of the 

 frontal tubercle suggest that we have at least four varieties. But 

 four varieties of Sternopsylla texana or S. carlsbadensis? In view of 

 the fact that Guimaraes lias figured a male (rightly or wrongly 

 associated with the proper female) of S. texana, they are here re- 

 garded as varieties of S. carlsbadensis, but are not named. 



Sternopsylla carlsbadensis (Ewing), new combination 



(Fig. 8, F) 

 Aptilopsylla carlsbadensis Ewing, 1940, Wash. Biol. Soc. Proc. 53 : 36. 



Type host. — Unknown. Type labeled "on bat guano." 



Type locality. — Carlsbad, N. Mex. 



Range. — The typical form (with frontal tubercle) known only from 

 Carlsbad Cavern, N. Mex. 



_ As already explained in the discussion following the formal descrip- 

 tion of the genus Sternopsylla, there may be as many as four varieties 

 of this species. 



